British government officials have been collaborating in private with shale gas companies to manage the public’s hostility to fracking, it was revealed in emails released under freedom of information act.

The UK government has been found sharing pre-prepared statements
with shale gas bosses as well as meeting for elaborate dinners,
as well as tet-a-tet for “further discussion over post dinner
drinks”. The fracking industry also shared lists with the
government of ‘stakeholders’ to be targeted.

The emails were sent throughout 2013. In one email discussing
contentious policy plans the Department of Energy and Climate
Change (Decc) apologizes to the UK Onshore Operatives Group
(UKOOG): “Sorry to raise your blood pressure on this subject
again, no expletives please!”

Another email from Centrica to Decc officials warned that
officials in Lancashire County Council (a country which has seen
earth tremors from exploratory fracking) were not convinced there
was enough government regulation for shale gas.

“The most common theme [of a county council meeting] was that
separate onshore regulation is needed of shale, they clearly
don’t feel totally comfortable with the current situation/or
understand how it will work,” the email read.

But Decc emailed UKOOG before a review by Public Health England
of the health and environmental impact of fracking that the
regulation was already sufficient.

“We are confident that there is robust appropriate regulation
in the UK to ensure safe operations that minimize impacts to
human health.”

In yet another email Ken Cronin, UKOOG’s chief executive, tells
Duarte Figueira, head of unconventional gas and oil at Decc:
“Thanks for a productive meeting (it’s like being set
homework).”

Lawrence Carter, an energy campaigner at Greenpeace, who made the
Freedom of Information request from Decc, said that the
government has been acting as an arm of the industry.

“The government is supposed to represent the interests of the
public when they deal with these companies, but the evidence is
piling up that they’re all in it together.”

British Gas, which owns Centrica – a major player in the shale
gas industry – has an executive working within Decc on
secondment.

Officials have defended the revelations saying that such
discussions were “right and proper”, reports The
Guardian.

David Cameron, one of the government’s biggest supporters of
fracking, has rejected EU proposals for binding rules for shale
gas exploration. Earlier this week he also announced financial
incentives for councils and local communities, slammed as bribes
by opponents. The PM said the UK was going “all out for
shale”.

Caroline Lucas, a Green Party MP, said the revelations were an
example of the “creepily cozy” relationship between
government and big energy companies.

"Apparently it's not enough to give fracking companies
generous tax breaks, the government also has to help them with
their PR. Instead of cheerleading for fracking, the government
should be working with community and renewable energy to move us
towards a low carbon future,” she said.

Extraction by fracking involves pumping millions of gallons of
water and chemicals into the ground, which creates excess hydro
waste, which over time local residents worry will result in
contamination of the water table.

Environmental protests have stalled exploration efforts across
the UK.

The most recent protests were targeted against IGas, when
demonstrators blocked access to a shale gas drilling site outside
Manchester with a 1.5 ton wind turbine blade tied up with
Christmas bow. A local activist group says the act is
“symbolic” and the Britain should be pursuing more
environmentally-friendly energy sources.